Vatican Announces a New Marian Feast Day

Pope Francis has issued a decree adding the feast of “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church” to the Catholic church’s liturgical calendar. The new feast day will be celebrated annually as a “memorial” on Monday following Pentecost.

The decree was released on Saturday, March 3, 2018 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Cardinal Robert Sarah, its Prefect, added to his announcement of the new decree that the Holy Father wishes to promote this devotion in order to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety”.

The Gospel reading for the new feast day is John 19:25-31 where Jesus, from the cross, entrusted his Mother’s care to his disciple.